


Nothing Left

by OnaDacora



Series: Undertale One-Shots [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU for existing work, Angst, BAD TIME, F/M, seriously a bad time, you are warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5184734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnaDacora/pseuds/OnaDacora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a One-Shot that loosely ties into my main Undertale fic 'Would That Make You Happy?'. This was written as a thank you for reaching 150 followers on Tumblr. A sort of indirect continuation of 'I Won't'.</p><p>This features the Reader character from WTMYH, and is set ten years after getting to the surface.</p><p>Prompt was 'Sans losing control of his magic'.</p><p> </p><p>  <b>This is an AU for WTMYH. Is not within that fic's 'canon' timeline.</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Left

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to my (now) over 150 followers on Tumblr, holy cow! If you haven't checked it out already, my tumblr is onadacora.tumblr.com, and I post lots of dumb crap while I'm working on writing 'Would That Make You Happy?'
> 
> All aboard the pain-train, folks.

Something is wrong with Sans.

Really, you've known about it for a while now, but none of you have been willing to talk about it. As though speaking it into being will make it more real. It's easier on all of you to pretend you don't see it.

His magic eye will trigger when he doesn't mean to, making him stutter around the house like a glitched image. At first it's just a few inches. Then a few feet. Now sometimes he'll end up in other rooms, or a few feet up in the air before blinking down to the ground. You're scared, but you don't want him to worry about you.

Because that would be so like Sans, to worry about  _you_  when his magic is going to hell.

There's a crack forming in the corner of his left eye socket. You reach out and touch it, and he actually  _winces_  away. He doesn't answer when you ask him if it hurts, and then makes a joke about skeletons getting cracks instead of wrinkles. He runs a thumb along the corner of your eye, where even at thirty you're starting to show crow's feet (laugh lines, Sans insists, from years of his wonderful jokes) and the love on his face makes you drop the subject. 

This time, you're in the middle of a conversation when he disappears. He's about to deliver the punchline of a joke, you can hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes, and then he's just. Gone. You and Frisk exchange a look.

You're about to start looking around the house to see where he's shown up this time (and isn't that just worrying, that this seems almost normal now?) when your phone starts vibrating in your pocket. Your heart leaps up into your throat.

The phone almost slips from your fingers in your rush to answer the call, and out of the corner of your eye, Frisk steps closer. "Sans? Hun where are you?"

There's static on the other end for a second, then a groan as the line clears. "babe? can you hear me?"

"Yes, God, are you okay? Where are you?" Frisk is hugging your arm, pressing their ear close to the phone so they can hear. They look scared. You  _feel_  scared.

"i... shit, hold on..." you hear him breathing into the phone. He sounds out of breath. "i'm at that park they built at the base of mt ebott. there's no one else here."

"Sans, that's  _ten miles_  away," you say, your voice thin as it escapes you. Frisk's grip tightens on your arm. "I'm coming to get you. Don't move, okay? Just stay at the park."

"yeah, that's... probably a good idea," he mumbles, his breath hissing into the receiver. "i don't think i could teleport anywhere even if i wanted to."

"I'm keeping you on the phone with me. Don't you dare hang up."

"never. whatever you say, babe."

"I'm leaving now," you say, extricating yourself from your child's grip as you go to get your purse, fishing inside for your car keys. "Frisk, stay here and call—"

"I'm not staying here! I'm going with you!" Frisk exclaims, eyebrows shooting up in alarm.

"I need you to call Papyrus—"

"I can do that in the car.  _Mom_ , we both know that I can handle Dad's magic better than you can, if..." They trail off, grimacing and glaring at you stubbornly. " _I'm going._ "

"Frisk—"

"If you don't take me with you, I'll just make Uncle Papyrus come get me." Frisk crosses their arms over their chest, and you can practically see them dig in their stubborn heels. You never could win with Frisk when their determination got the better of them.

"Fine, come on," you say, giving in. "Call your Uncle. Tell him to meet us at the park, just in case."

"In case of what?" Frisk is staring at you with wide eyes, and your heart clenches like a fist reached into your chest.

"shit," Sans murmurs into the phone.

"Sans?" you say, startled.

The phone starts to hiss with static again, and then the call disconnects. You try to call him back, but it goes straight to voicemail. Your hands are shaking.

"Mom?" Frisk says in a tiny voice. You're reminded of the little six year old that fell with you into the Underground.

"Get in the car, sweetie. And call your Uncle."

* * *

You almost forget to put the car in park, you're in such a hurry to get to Sans. Letting off the brake as your hand fumbles for the doorhandle, the car lurches forward until you slam your foot down again. You're shaking as you shove the shift forward into park and turn off the engine.

Sans is sitting on a bench, hunched forward with his face in his hands, rocking back and forth. It's starting to get dark out, the sky painted orange with twilight, and in the growing shadows the blue glow pouring from between Sans's fingers is made all the more visible. He looks up at the sound of the car doors slamming shut, still covering the left side of his face. Sweat is beading on his skull, and the pupil in his right eye is barely visible.

He jerks to his feet as you run to him, raising a hand to ward you off, turning the left side of his face away from you and Frisk. "d-don't, it's not...  _augh!_ " A loud crack snaps through the air, and Sans is suddenly behind the bench, grimacing in pain. Waves of blue magic, like flames, lick up through his fingers.

"No!" you cry, because that's all you can do. You can feel your Soul reacting to the outpour of magic, shivering in fear. Rounding the bench, Frisk seizes hold of your hand and pulls you to a stop.

"Mom, don't!"

"I can't just—"

"babe," Sans says, and the sudden calmness of his voice silences you. "it's not... this isn't gonna stop this time."

You can only watch as he pulls his hand away from his face. A strangled cry wrenches out of you, eyes swimming with tears. The first crack in his eye socket is wider, longer, splitting and trailing along the side of his skull. New cracks have formed, and there's a bit of bone missing where two of the fissures met and fused. Magic spills from the socket, bright and terrible.

Frisk lets you go and stumbles forward, reaching out a hand before stopping themselves. Sans stutters a few inches to the left, then back again, like an image being stretched and snapping back into place. " _Dad_ , please... no..."

"c'mon kiddo, we all knew this was coming," Sans says, flinching as the blue light flares brighter. Glancing down, he looks at the magic wisping off his left hand.

"We didn't!" you snap, anger pushing forward through your tears. "There has to be something we can do!"

"i've tried. there's nothing." He sounds resigned. Defeated. Somehow he manages to give you a shrug.

"You bastard, don't you give up again!" you shout, brushing past Frisk before they can stop you, curling your fingers into the front of Sans's jacket and shaking him.

"stop! you can't—!" There's a resounding crack and you and Sans are closer to the treeline. Your stomach turns, the sensation more violent than it's ever been before. Releasing him, you press your hands to your gut, knees buckling as you fight back the urge to vomit.

There's hands on your shoulders, and you look up to see Frisk crouching over you. Protecting you. "Mom, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," you mumble, sucking in deep breaths to steady yourself. The sickening feeling is starting to fade. Tears are running down your cheeks.

Sans is watching you, shaking as he takes a step back, eyes wide with fear. You think that the cracks around his eye are wider, there's a new chip in his skull you don't remember. And in the shadows behind him, you see two sets of glowing eyes.

"I can just Load," Frisk says, desperation making their voice shrill. "We'll get more time to try and fix this."

"please, don't," Sans begs, tears welling up in his eye sockets. "don't make me go through this again. i don't want  _you_  to see this again."

"Then I'll Reset," they blurt out, crying freely now. Their voice cracks. "You'll remember. You can fix it Dad,  _please_."

"you can't do that! not just because of me!" Sans snaps, tears trailing down his cheekbones. "you can't undo all the good things you and your mom have had. everyone  _finally_  got to the surface."

"This isn't fair! I thought I did everything  _right_!" Frisk sobs, wiping angrily at their face with overlong sleeves.

"you did do everything right, kiddo. this isn't your fault." Sans gives the two of you a shaky smile. White silhouettes of two fanged skulls are slowly coalescing around the two pairs of blue, glowing eyes, mouths opening and closing. Sans looks behind him, like he senses them there, and just gives a small sigh as they start to inch closer.

"Sans, I'd rather do the last ten years over again than watch you die," you sob, shuddering as you stare at the menacing skulls.

Sans looks back at you, and you can see that he's trembling. "if i wake up back in snowdin i think i might go mad. i've lived the entire time on the surface waiting for it to happen. for all the happiness i've found to be wrenched away from me.  don't make my greatest fear a reality, frisk. promise me."

It takes Frisk a moment to find their voice through their choking tears. "I promise."

"i love you. both of you, so much."

"SANS!" Papyrus rushes past you and Frisk, and you aren't surprised that you didn't hear him arrive. You aren't even sure you can even sense the world around you. It feels like everything has narrowed down to the four of you and this patch of grass near the edge of the forest. Nothing else matters."BROTHER, NO!"

Sans looks up and smiles at Papyrus, reaching out to pat his arm. "pap, i'm glad you made it. seems like this is  _tibia_  my grand finale."

"SANS THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES!" Papyrus shouts, thick tears rolling down his face.

"what, and miss this last opportunity to  _rib_  ya? not a chance."

"GIVE UP ON THIS STOIC ACT! I CAN  _SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU_."

Sans looks so happy at Papyrus's joke, grinning wide even as the strain on his face widens more cracks in his skull. "take care of our family for me, okay bro?"

"I— OF COURSE I WILL." Papyrus sniffles, clenching Sans's hand between his.

Sans gently pulls his hand away. "i love you, papyrus."

"I LOVE YOU MORE, SANS."

"i know. you were always better at that than me."

"DON'T SAY THAT."

The hungry, wide-mouthed skulls are circling now, like vultures. Sans looks up at them, and now he seems afraid. You know he doesn't have much longer. "get them back to the cars, bro. don't let them see this."

"No! I'm not leaving you!" you cry, trying to stand. Papyrus scoops you up into his arms, carrying you like a child. "Let me go! Papyrus!"

"FRISK, DO NOT MAKE ME CARRY YOU AS WELL. PLEASE." Papyrus's voice is hollow.

The defeat in Papyrus's normally indomitable spirit destroys any further protests you might have. You press your forehead into the skeleton's chest, fingers curling around his clavicle as you sob into his clothes.

There's a deafening roar, the sound of bones splitting, and the low drone of energy. Light floods everything, blinding even through your shut eyelids.  Papyrus shakes, falling to his knees with a clatter against the sidewalk, tightening his grip on you. The light fades, leaving only shadow, the last remnants of twilight. Struggling, you pull yourself up just enough to see over Papyrus's shoulder, fighting desperately to clear your eyes.

Sans and the skulls are gone. There's nothing left but ash.


End file.
